Battle Preseason POY Watch list and Buie’s ranking drops?

That’s right, every time we try and get geared up for football season that darn basketball program throws out another piece of good news. Here is the release by gopsusports.com

“”Penn State point guard Talor Battle(Albany, N.Y.), a first team All-Big Ten and All-Region selection as a sophomore, has been named among the preseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy. The list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early front runners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor.

Battle, who led the Big Ten in regular season scoring (17.3 ppg) last season, was among eight Big Ten players named to the list and one of six that are juniors. Also joining Battle on the list from the Big Ten were Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan, Purdue’s Robbie Hummel and E’Twaun Moore, Michigan’s Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims and Ohio State’s Evan Turner.””

Now in all likely hood, Talor wont win he award. That’s nothing against Talor or Penn State basketball, its just a matter of fact. Unless Talor does something beyond amazing this year, its a good chance that it’ll go to one of the figureheads of a Final 4 caliber team. All in all it might be more important that Talor and the program got more press than anything else. Slowly but surely the program is climbing out of the cellar it has been living in and is making a name for itself. It wouldn’t be hard to defend the statement that this is one of the best offseasons in Penn State Basketball history.

That brings us to Taran Buie, Talor’s half brother. After picking up his verbal at MSG after winning the NIT something fishy happened a few months later…Taran’sRivals rating dropped. He was ranked a 4 Star recruit with an overall ranking of 53rd. Now he is ranked 136th and is only a 3 Star. Now lets be real here, all in all your “Star” ranking really doesn’t mean much. You can either play or you can’t. But the fact of the matter is that there is a good chance that this drop in ranking has to do with his choice of college. That makes even less sense, I think its safe to say that Taran was just as good at basketball before he gave his verbal as he was after. In the end it doesn’t matter, but its just another example of the circus that can be college athletics. In another twist of irony, Talor was 2 Star and was upgraded to a 3 Star after he verbaled to Penn State..Go Figure.

(**In other news Terrelle Pryor’s Rivals ranking is up to an 8 Star and he has already won the Heisman)

I disagree his school choice hurt his rating/ranking. I’ve alway liked espn’s ratings/rankings the best, and back a few months ago, they were commenting on his somewhat out of control play. They dropped his rating from 94 to 93. I think it’s wrong he fell so far in ranking, but as you note, probably not so important. He does need to get a better shot from the arc. It’s just not that good. But his speed, defense, ups, ability to score in the paint, keep him a top notch player. I still think he reminds me of Manny Harris, who is also not a great 3 shooter, but improving. PSU fans won’t be disappointed. Unlike Talor, I don’t think you’ll see the heroic 3’s, but you will see key steals, rebounds, drives, and someone who likes to bang and play above the rim. Like Talor, clutch, wanting the ball in key situations. That family doesn’t know the word choke.